


What Once Was Lost

by CelestialLink



Category: Rhett & Link
Genre: Fluff, Gen, blood oath, just sweet platonic fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-15
Updated: 2019-12-15
Packaged: 2021-02-26 05:27:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,243
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21798331
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CelestialLink/pseuds/CelestialLink
Summary: While back in North Carolina for the Buies Creek documentary, Link discovers something he thought he had lost forever.
Relationships: Rhett McLaughlin/Link Neal
Comments: 4
Kudos: 12
Collections: Mythical Secret Santa 2019





	What Once Was Lost

**Author's Note:**

> Merry Mythical Christmas, Veronica!! I truly hope you’ll enjoy this little fic as much as I enjoyed writing it for you! Now if it could only be reality...
> 
> <3 Annie :)

*1996*

The hot summer sun beat down on Link as soon as he stepped out of his red 1987 Nissan pickup. The gravel driveway crunched under his shoes as he jogged to the front door of his house and stepped inside. His home was empty, his mother away at work as usual. It was a Saturday afternoon and he had just come back from a trip down to the river with Rhett. 

The lanky boy walked to his room on the other side of the house and tossed his keys on his bed. The end of summer was rapidly approaching, and Link knew he should have started storing away his old things like his mother asked. The time to leave for college with Rhett was only a few short weeks away, and his mother wanted him to store whatever he wasn’t going to bring with him in the attic. So he got to work, packing away some of the clothes he didn’t wear often. He changed into a pair of sweats and threw the old, torn and frayed jeans he had been wearing into the bin. It was soon stored away, and the wallet that he had accidentally left in the pocket, was seemingly lost forever. The Neals has turned their house upside down, searching for Link’s misplaced wallet in vain. Link didn’t care so much about the $20 bill, or even his license, that could be replaced, and $20, while still a loss, wasn’t the end of the world. 

But what did matter to him, was the irreplaceable piece of paper he had kept in that wallet for the past few years. It was his blood oath with Rhett. Their promise to create something together. And he had lost it.

*2019*

Rhett and Link were back home in North Carolina, visiting Buies Creek together for the first time in many years. They were filming a documentary for their novel, The Lost Causes of Bleak Creek. But when they weren’t filming, they visited family.

Link walked back into his old home, his mom having asked that he go through all his old stores away items and see what could be donated.

“Link!” Sue exclaimed happily. She wrapped her arms around her son with a wide smile. “Here to get rid of some of that old junk in my attic?”

Link rolled his eyes with a chuckle. “Hey, my old stuff isn’t junk. But yeah, that’s exactly what I’m here to do. I doubt I could fit any of the old clothes, so I’m sure all of that will go.”

Link walked up the pullout ladder to the attic and climbed up. The air was stale and dry, and a heavy coat of dust was on everything. Sunlight streamed through a small window in the wall, but all else was dark. 

Outstretching his arms to feel for the dangling cord that turned on the light, Link began to wander through the old attic. The wood creaked and groaned beneath his feet. It was clear no one had been up here in quite some time. 

When he finally found the cord, he pulled it and the lightbulb on the ceiling flickered on. The attic was illuminating in a yellow glow. Boxes with the words “Link’s things” were stacked against the walls. He approached one and took it down. Opening it up, a putrid, moldy smell penetrated his senses. He gagged and pushed the smelly box away. 

“Geez.. Guess that’s all gonna have to be thrown away,” Link sighed and grabbed the next box. Opening that, he was met with the smell of mothballs, but thankfully, not mold. He pulled out some of the clothes and found some to be salvageable. But then he grabbed a pair of his old jeans and noticed something in the pocket. He reached in and pulled out his old wallet.

“No, no, no! No way!! It can’t be...” Link quickly opened the wallet, his fingers fumbling against the worn leather. Amongst several cards and bills, he saw a small, folded piece of paper. He stared at it for a moment, almost afraid to take it and see if it was what he was praying it was. 

Gently, he grasped the paper and took it out as cautiously as possible. He cradled it in his hands as though it was his newborn child. His hands began to shake and he swallowed a nervous gulp before unfolding the faded paper. And then he screamed, cheered, hollered. 

“I FOUND IT! I FOUND IT!” Link laughed in amazement and grabbed his phone from his pocket. He called Rhett, eyes wide and heart racing.

“Hey man, what’s up?”

“Rhett!! Rhett!! Get over here right now! I’m at my mom’s get here now!!”

“Link, is something wrong? Or is something very right?” Rhett chuckled a little, not expecting Link to be screaming at him when he answered the call.

“Something amazing happened and I need you to get over here!”

“All right! Okay, I’m coming now. See you in like, ten minutes.” Rhett hung up and shook his head.

“What’s going on, hon?” Diane asked her son, a look of curiosity on her face.

“Link asked me to stop by his Mom’s real quick. He’s excited about something. I won’t be gone long.” He smiled, grabbed his keys, kissed his mother’s cheek, and jogged off to his parent’s car. Within seven minutes, he was knocking on the front door of Link’s mom’s house.

The sound of running footsteps alerted him that Link was coming, and apparently, just as excited as he had been a few minutes ago. The door swung open and he was greeted with the biggest grin on the face of his best friend.

“Rhett! Come in, hurry! I have something to show you.” Link stepped aside for his giant friend and ushered him inside. He hurried off to the living room and came back to Rhett holding the paper. Link placed it in his hands. “Open it.” 

Rhett did as he was told and almost immediately his mouth dropped.

“There is no way...” Rhett started.

“Dude! I found it!! I found our blood oath!!” 

Rhett looked back up, meeting Link’s joy-filled eyes. Then he threw his arms around his best friend and hugged him so tightly. Link laughed as he hugged back.

“I can’t believe this!!” Rhett exclaimed. “I just can’t believe it! You found it!! You really did... We have it again.. Oh Link, this is amazing!”

“Y-yeah!!” Link laughed. Behind them, Sue was smiling as she watched. They really hadn’t changed much since they were just little boys. And that warmed her heart. The same joy was in their eyes when they were together. And they still knew how to make each other happy, how to make each other laugh. That would never go away.

Their trip had ended far too soon, and they found themselves back in LA, in their studio. But their office had something new displayed on the wall. Framed and preserved, their blood oath, their commitment to create, to work together, and to keep their friendship as close as ever, was now featured in their loft. And there it would remain, safe, and found after being lost for so many years. Yes despite the paper that contained the words and their signatures having been lost, their bond, and the oath itself had lived on, without it. Of course, they didn’t mind having the certificate to show it.


End file.
